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<div class="content"> <h3>The Sitch</h3> <hr> <br> <p><strong>October 6, 2009</strong></p> <p>Boy the year’s just slipping away. It’s hard to believe we’re in the last quarter. </p> <p>Strange to think that the site’s been up for almost a year now. I should have a lot more done. </p> <p>Oh well. There’s another chapter of <em>Bloodletting</em>. We’ve finally, after much drama, made it to <a href="bloodletting12-f.php">‘In the Light.’</a></p> <p>Val</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>September 27, 2009</strong></p> <p>From nothing to two posts in one week…I think Team Valyssia is on the mend. </p> <p><em>The River’s Daughter</em> series has a shiny new follow up piece called <a href="short_river02-f.php">‘Jupiter.’</a></p> <p>Enjoy!</p> <p>Val</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>September 22, 2009</strong></p> <p>Yup, I’m alive. </p> <p>It’s just…life can get messy. My life this year seems to be following the tenet of Murphy’s Law. </p> <p>Well, it’s not really my life so much as this godforsaken story. It’s been a royal pain in my ass. </p> <p>Remember this: </p> <p>“So, the OCD demons tell me I must read and fix as I repost this little gem. Now, don’t wig. I’m not going to break it. Truth is, the story fundamentally works. The mechanics are great. And the ending actually feels like an ending. That’s only happened to me once since. I’m gonna guess it to be a rare and beautiful thing. I don’t mess with those.”</p> <p>I <em>so</em> should’ve stuck with that. But I didn’t and I’ve been paying for it in every possible way. </p> <p>I thought I could create something different and maybe more interesting. This would appear to have been a mistake.</p> <p>No matter. I’m stubborn. I’ve been moving forward with it. It’s really pretty meaningless that I spent September reworking everything I wrote in August. </p> <p>It’s only time. </p> <p>Have you ever been accused of betraying a confidence? I was. I was accused of using someone else’s experience as a foundation for my story. I think that’s probably a new low. </p> <p>Never mind that all stories and the experiences that inspire them share common roots. There are only so many themes that speak to us. It’s a finite thing. That’s why we see the same stories retold in slightly different ways. For example: True Blood shares a common theme with Buffy. There’s only one story there. What we have are different people’s takes on it. The details and faces change, but the core story—</p> <p>The truly upsetting part was that key details were based in personal experience. I had no idea how close the material actually was until that happened.</p> <p>Anyway, whatever…details can be changed. Everything can change, even the title, <a href="bloodletting11-f.php">‘The Witching Hour.’</a></p> <p>I think what I'm missing is a little more drama.</p> <p>Val</p> <p>Oh and footnote…PostScript, or whatever you wanna call it…</p> <p>The tagboard was little screwy right after implementation. It took a kind reader sending us note for the problem to be discovered. It’s fixed now. Actually, it’s been fixed for over a month. I’ve just been—</p> <p>So, uh…yeah.</p> <p>Thank you, Howard.</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>July 30, 2009</strong></p> <p>I actually got a piece of email this week from someone asking if I intended to work anymore on <em>Bloodletting</em> and <em>Steps</em>. Y’know you’re moving slow when…</p> <p>Yes.</p> <p>And to prove it there’s a shiny new update to <em>Bloodletting</em>.</p> <p>The chapter is still called <a href="bloodletting10-f.php">‘The Broken Places.’</a> If you look at it again, it’s exactly what I promised. Well, not exactly. There are twenty scenes, not nineteen. The word count is an even fourteen-thousand. I think it’s pretty decent stuff. I doubt you’ll ever get as much plot momentum for the buck.</p> <p>More later.</p> <p>Val</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>July 26, 2009</strong></p> <p>Whedonist and I returned today from the San Diego Comic-Con. I know that you guys have probably been reading all of the buzz on Whedonesque, so I doubt I have anything for you in terms of news. </p> <p>This might be the other side of the coin, though. I’d pretty much bet that there’s been gushing. There’s always gushing. I’m not gonna gush. We hit Whedonist’s favorite, local comic store today and the clerk said that there was decidedly suckage to be had. I figured he'd know. The store has a booth at Comic-Con every year. This year there were protesters lining the hallways with cardboard signs reading ‘Twilight Killed Comic-Com.’ I wasn’t quite sure what that was about, but—</p> <p>Just guessing…</p> <p>It was an effing zoo!</p> <p>Saturday morning, we attended both the ‘Angel on the Rise’ IDW panel and the Dark Horse panel called ‘We Love Comics, Too!’ </p> <p>Could they have found a sillier name? </p> <p>I mean, really? </p> <p>Of the two, IDW’s dog and pony show was far more interesting, though still kinda yawn worthy. </p> <p>The session started out with Lynch giving Juliet Landau mad kudos for having the story and artistic vision already formed for the Drusilla arc prior to their meeting. I suppose that was nice, although I’m not a Juliet Landau fan. </p> <p>Peter David spoke as well about his Fallen Angel series. What he said, in a nutshell was that the reason crossovers occur is to pick up readership, but that he wouldn’t bother if he couldn’t find a way to make the encounter feel natural. At least he was honest. His reputation as an author speaks to quality. I managed to get a look at the first book and it seems like it’s going to be a good arc. The art by J.K. Woodward is just stellar. Grabbing a copy for that alone is totally worth it.</p> <p>No clue if they were joking, but gosh I hope they were. They said that they intend to have Spike and Angel visit a comic book convention. <em>Would an eye roll seem out of place?</em> At the con, the attendees in costume will undergo a similar change to what we saw in the season two Buffy Halloween episode. Nothing like a little plot recycling to thrill the fans. At least it was an amusing plot. After that, they intend to fragment the line even further, giving Spike his own monthly written by Brian Lynch.</p> <p>Yeah…and that’s just about enough of that. Angel being famous and having a motion picture in the works and Spike employing out of work screen writers to create prophecy that favors him…it’s all turning rather silly. I may be falling off the joy train. The one nugget really is the Illyria – Fallen Angel stuff. </p> <p>The Gunn and Illyria story is going to be about her travelling home as Fred to attend a funeral. A close relative passes away and her family contacts her. That could be touching, but we’ve already kind of seen a very similar story in the Illyria Spotlight book written by Peter David. We’ll have to see how ‘Only Human’ turns out. Maybe they’ll find something new to say. Though, I sincerely doubt that they’ll trump the image he left us with of her sitting amongst pictures of the family watching home movies. </p> <p>The Dark Horse panel was basically useless. They said almost nothing about the Buffy books. They only mentioned them when asked by a fan and pretty much told the person what we already know, though Scott Allie did hint that the fandom was going to be miffed over the end of the ‘Retreat’ arc. Now, jaded begins to describe me where these books are concerned. Honestly, hearing that just made me go, ‘uh-boy.’ </p> <p>There was one new piece of art displayed. I’m sure you’ll see it soon. It was a Jo Chen portrait of Willow. Willow is getting her own book in the series. That’s been long enough coming. We will supposedly learn about her relationship with Saga Vasuki and a few other tidbits. Maybe they’ll explain her erratic behavior. I’ll laugh if they use telepathy as an excuse. </p> <p>The other piece of news that hasn’t been news in years was the Sheppard Book, Firefly comic. In addition to this they promised a Wash book too. While this isn’t a bad, I’m honestly more interested in Book. I think we all are. </p> <p>Other than that, all I got out of it was that Dark Horse president, Mike Richardson is excited. In fact, he’s so excited that he said the word ‘exciting’ so many times that any excitement was pretty much sucked out of the room. We became excitably bored. Lethargic even. Whedonist and I discussed suggesting words like ‘jazzed’ or ‘stoked’ to him, but we kept our mouths shut, mocking good behavior. Be amazed. </p> <p>Really, what we should've suggested was that he take a class or twelve in public speaking.</p> <p>Whatever.</p> <p>The exhibition hall was a complete nightmare. There was no enjoyment had there. Think: massive mosh pit. The IDW and D.H. booths were completely devoid of anything interesting. They did a few S.D.C.C. editions of the Angel and Spike books last year. There was nothing like that this year. I was hoping for an S.D.C.C. edition of the Fallen Angel book. Hope just gets you disappointment. I should’ve known better. Both companies kinda forgot us. The only thing going was a short autograph session with Lynch and Landau. We entirely missed it because of the ‘excitement’ at Dark Horse. </p> <p>We tried for the V pilot screening, but that was a nightmare. The line for tickets was easily an eighth mile long. It wasn’t worth it. </p> <p>There was one thing at the con that Whedonist and I did enjoy. J. Michael Straczynski gave a lecture and Q&A session. It came at a point in the day when we were both pretty foundered. Basically, what he did was a short writer’s workshop, sans the assignment. I already had a great deal of respect for his work prior to hearing him speak. Now I’m truly a fan.</p> <p>Sorry, I may've fibbed about the gushing.</p> <p>The first thing he addressed was failure. I won’t try to quote him, but I can give you the premise. What he believes is that failure should be embraced. We should run headlong at it. </p> <p>One of the stories that he told was about a pretty girl. Odds are you guys have heard this one a million times. I know I have. The guy doesn’t ask the girl out because he fears rejection. A couple weeks later the girl’s dating someone that’s just kinda scary. The guy works up the nerve to ask why and is told that ‘scary’ is the only one who asked. </p> <p>The moral of the story: inaction due to fear is the surest pathway to regret. </p> <p>That wasn't new, but the next part was just plain funny. He said that he firmly believes that the reason people discourage you is that they don’t have the nerve to do it themselves. The last thing they want is to not try themselves and then to watch you succeed. As a result, they beat you down. I’m not sure if he used the term ‘bullshit’ or not, but that’s the message he conveyed. It was absolutely priceless.</p> <p>When the Q&A opened up, he received numerous questions about Spiderman, Thor, The Silver Surfer, and of course, Babylon Five, but there were also a few from aspiring authors. Basically, he told me I was doing okay without ever speaking directly to me. It was almost like having a temporary ‘father figure’ give me a pep talk. I sort of lack that. My relationship with my own father is pretty estranged. </p> <p>The first question was about foreshadowing. Straczynski is a master at planting seeds in the reader or viewer’s mind. The audience member asked how it's done and Joe essentially told him ‘practice,’ like we didn’t already get that. Foreshadowing must be subtle in order to work and you don’t get subtle without practice. </p> <p>Another woman prattled a little bit about shaping a rich world with a large number of characters. Poor thing was really nervous, but brave enough to ask how you do that. The answer she received was just beautiful, ‘start small.’ Stories are ultimately about people and people are driven by their emotions. To build a world you start with one person being affected by one small thing. That’s ultimately what storytelling is. It’s about the details. The world will shape itself. </p> <p>I kind of felt for the oriental man who stood up and asked what medium he should write. He wasn’t sure whether he should be writing comics, or screenplays, or novels. He was told that if he didn’t know, he probably shouldn’t be writing. Being smacked down by someone like Straczynski had to hurt. There was a lot of stammering after that. The bottom line: ‘Write what you feel. Write what’s in your heart. If you aren’t certain, then try it all. Do what speaks the most clearly to you.’ </p> <p>No shit. </p> <p>I wish there was a way to thank him. Sadly, I have no means. J. Michael Straczynski took what might otherwise have been a pretty disappointing experience overall and made it feel worthwhile. He said some things that I really needed to hear and he told me that I already have a pretty darned good idea what I’m doing. </p> <p>I need to get with the doing. </p> <p>Those of you who've been waiting for something besides this may get your wish this week. Aside from the going and doing, the environment here has been very condusive to writing. I've been getting quite a lot done.</p> <p>Val</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>July 20, 2009</strong></p> <p>I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you who voted in the Kinda Gay Awards. <em>Flood</em> picked up another trophy via ‘Voter’s Choice.’ Honestly, I debated about posting it. Were it not the result of your vote, I probably wouldn’t bother.</p> <p>I ask that in the future no further nominations of my work be submitted to Snowpuppies hosted award sites. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the nominations, I simply question her methods and the ethics involved.</p> <p>Val</p> <br> <hr> <br> <p><strong>July 7, 2009</strong></p> <p>They tell me change is good, but I’m not sure I buy that. Change usually upsets people.</p> <p>And generalizations can be fun…</p> <p>Anyway…there are a few changes here and I think they’re good. No, not a new chapter. I wish I could give you that, but—</p> <p>The first change is the tagboard that Howard Russell just finished this evening. Thanks and hugs to Mr. Howard. He really is a good sport.</p> <p>You’ll find a form at the bottom of each chapter to leave comment should you wish. Your comments will display at the bottom of each ‘Table of Contents’ page. You may also view the comments for each chapter by clicking the button labeled ‘Reviews’ below the form. As indicated previously, the site is now formatted by iframes.</p> <p>There’s also new cover art for <a href="bloodletting_cover-f.php"><em>Bloodletting</em></a>. A great big thank you goes out to <a target="blank" href="http://blacklagoon.left-unspoken.net">Wenj</a> of the <a target="blank" href="http://www.buffyforums.net/index.php">BuffyForums</a>! I appealed to a few of the artist there and she was the first to respond with a piece. There may be other guest artists offering stuff in the months to come. I’m kind of excited. It’s really nice when other people get involved and add their vision.</p> <p>The third thing is kind of a big deal, but it has nothing to do with me. Well, other than the working I’m putting into it. You guys might remember a site called <a target="blank" href="http://www.buffyworld.com">BuffyWorld</a>. Howard and I had a little talk and I’ve been neck deep in a project to renovate the site. The best way to add life to a languishing site is to improve on the resources it offers. First up are screencaps. In this case what I mean by ‘improve on’ is ‘replace.’ What was there just sucked. Seasons one through three are completed now. Here's a <a target="blank" href="http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/screencaps/001/index.php?id=130">sample</a>.</p> <p>I’m currently uploading season four. It should be live by tomorrow evening.</p> <p>Back to the salt mine. I have a scene to complete tonight.</p> <p>Be well!</p> <p>Val</p> <br> <div class="nav"> <ul> <li>Current Site News</li> <li><a href="main02-f.php">Jan 09 - June 09</a></li> <li><a href="main01-f.php">Nov 08 - Dec 08</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="disclaimer" align="center"> <ul> <li>All material derived from pop culture at large is the property of its respective owner. No copyright infringement is intended. Please read the <a href="disclaimer.php">disclaimer.</a></li> <li>© Valyssia Leigh 2009</li> </ul> <br> <br> </div> </div> <img id="back2" src="images/Cacophony2.jpg" alt="" title="" />
